ADPD - The Green Party has called out the Government for its refusal to properly align with the EU Birds Directive (Directive 2009/147/EC), claiming that this shows the Government hates Maltese natural heritage and biodiversity.
The recent changes introduced under Legal Notice 251/2025 remove the requirement for bird-ringing equipment to be obtained exclusively via the network approved by EURING (represented in Malta by BirdLife Malta). The weakening of regulations includes changes to allow the use of live decoy birds, a tactic formerly prohibited.
Referencing the ECJ ruling, they claimed the government continues to open trapping seasons for songbirds and golden plover under the guise of "research". It is making a mockery of the scientific practice of ringing by vandalising the legal notice regulating bird ringing to appease trappers.
On Monday, BirdLife Malta says changes to bird ringing rules will allow trappers to be "easily declared as scientific bird ringers," a move they called "obscene".
The rule changes put forward by Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, responsible for the Wild Birds Regulations Unit, and Environment Minister Miriam Dalli, are, according to BirdLife, an attempt to circumvent a European Court ruling that slammed the 'scientific' justification to allow trapping to take place.
BirdLife singled out Prime Minister Robert Abela, accusing him of weakening the laws and undermining "decades of credible ornithological research" to appease trappers. This damages Malta's long-standing reputation in bird studies, BirdLife said.
ADPD pointed out that the Government's recent 'Green Paper' about the environment is just hot air, referencing the "government's continuous undermining of laws, rules and regulations protecting the environment and its hate for the Maltese environment, which it proudly wears on its sleeves."
"The Government's stated objective of supporting so-called 'traditional hobbies' is evidently being placed ahead of the interests of the Maltese. It is neither progressive nor in any way modern and scientific to engage in the cheap, culturally ignorant, chauvinistic and indeed frankly right-wing populist politics that the Labour government is pursuing," ADPD-The Green Party Secretary General Ralph Cassar said.
They also said the Government is "cynically prioritising the interests of the hunting and trapping lobbies over the conservation of our shared natural heritage."
"We also have, unsurprisingly, some PL and PN MPs bending over backwards to dance to the tune of these same lobbies," they said, pointing out that PN MEP Peter Agius and PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba are both falling over each other to try and score brownie points, and posing as some 'defenders of the Maltese'.
They concluded by noting that "legal notices regarding ringing and trapping can be challenged in Parliament, but no Government or Opposition MP will dare do that."